6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (1 May - Results & Review)
3. Well, That Was A Waste Of Time!
Sami Zayn was going for the disingenuous heel promo by sucking up to Tulsa then asking why people turned on him. Fair, but then he attacked the empty Gingerbread Man mascot outfit in the ring by…kicking it in the gumdrop buttons and ripping parts of it to pieces. Bizarrely, new United States Champ Trick Williams made the save for that Gingerbread Man and held up an “X” hand signal for it afterwards.
OK, what was the point of this?
Sami tried with his speech and that part of things was a good concept on paper, but it just didn’t hit. The whole thing boiled down to a waste of TV time, basically. Then, as if that wasn't enough, the promo afterwards with a doctor telling Trick that Gingerbread was dead was another choice. GM Nick Aldis seemed to suggest that he was gutted about the mascot's impending funeral too.
They’re trying to go too funny with this and it isn’t working. If anything, Trick's rivalry with Zayn needs the latter to show some viciousness rather than working lame 'ha ha' skits. That way, Williams can show the necessary fire by meeting that aggro head on. He shouldn't be flashing the "X" for an empty mascot costume. He just shouldn't.
Perhaps someone thought this was funny behind the scenes. In fact, that's almost definitely what happened. Somebody convinced Triple H (or he convinced himself) that this would be some laugh, but it was more like something Vince McMahon would've booked back in 2019. Don't do it again, please. Scrap the Gingerbread send off!